ok, you're getting good advice here. I would strongly suggest that you take your time when buying this stuff.

It's true that all the DAW's out there can basically do the same things these days. And once you learn one, you tend to stick with it, just because you've already taken the time to learn it and have become fast at getting around it.

As far as I can tell you need an audio interface and maybe a some virtual instruments right now. If I were you, I'd use garage band until it simply didn't work for you anymore. Like I said it's free and you're just starting out so it will be a while before you exhaust it's capabilities.

As far as Audio interface, I regret my first interface purchase. I went for the $700 8 input rack mounted guy. The interface itself is fantastic, that's not the issue. The issue is I'm a one man show and have never recorded more than one instrument at a time. I've had friends over and we've done all of three inputs at once a couple of times, but that was a bad purchase in the sense that I over bought for my needs. For example, a couple of years ago the firewire port on the interface I mentioned stopped working. I was in the middle of a large move and couldn't send it back to the shop at the time and was under a ton of writing deadlines. So I pulled an old 120 dollar line 6 interface out of the closet and used that for a while. I was somewhat shocked to find that it worked for me because I mainly use "in the box" software instruments. It worked so well that I used that as my interface for the last two years. I still haven't sent the big boy in to get it fixed and that is only going to cost me 75 bucks, but I haven't gotten around to boxing it up and going to the post office to return it.

Two weeks ago that little toy started giving me issues and I bought an m-audio USB interface for less than 200 bucks to replace it, cause I need a portable interface in addition to my rack mount one. Again, it works fantastic for what I do. I still haven't gotten around to packaging and shipping my big interface back in for repair. But that new interface came with some DAW software and sounds (as almost all of them do). I tuns out that I already own the big daddy version of the software it came with so it is useless to me, but it's perfect for someone like you.

Go find you a decent interface. I don't know how many live instruments you need to record at once, but that is the only concern you should have about that at this point. Then either use Garage Band or the software that comes with it to get your head in the game. Don't worry about committing to Garage Band because it's under powered. Like I said earlier, for 199 bucks you can always get Logic Pro from Apple which will take you into the big league DAW's and will be able to open all your existing garage band projects. OR just use whatever software that comes with your interface and you can upgrade to more powerful versions of that as you need to.

My point is, baby step your way into this. You've got a grand to blow so blow it wisely and blow it one piece of gear at a time. Learn that one piece of gear inside and out and THEN decide what you have to have next. Then come post back here and get recommendations on what we like and don't like.

I could spec you out a pretty kick ass set of sounds for less than a grand, but you have to decide what sounds you need first, right now to record what you actually write right now.

hth's

Thanks!

I have continued the search online and am taking in what you all have been sending me. Of course one side wants to get something huge and just grow into it but I know from past experience that those ideas dont always...ok..so they almost never work out. The other side of me knows to take it slow and step up when needed. Now which side will win? HA! I think I will need to let those voices fight it out for a day or two but at least I have great advice and I can't say that no one told me so!

Jason

I've only been recording with DAW's for less than a year. I have an apogee one and Logic 9 thru a dual core imac
I have Komplete 8 ultra, psp and amplitube plugins.
If your planning on adding these types of plugins to your arsenal and taking advantage of multi tracking
I would recommend you get at least a quad core with as much ram as possible.
Some friends may tell you a lesser computer will suffice but at the end of the day you won't regret having more a
more powerful computer.
As far as plugins go, UA satellite and komplete 8 ultra will cover most of the bases.
The previous advice given is all accurate and true. In my case I bought logic 9 and learnt from scratch.
It's an amazing DAW system and I'm still discovering new possibilities with it.
Regarding an interface I am planning on upgrading to a apogee duet for stereo mic ing.
Another important toy is a vocal preamp. I have a " pro mpa 11 " which for the money works really well.
There are many others on the market that work well. ( that's another forum )

If I were a newbie and committed to the Mac platform, I would march right over to my local Apple Store and have them give me a thorough demo of Logic.

Then I would consider how many inputs I would be recording at the same time and if it is one or two to start with, I'd take a close look at one of the plug and play Apogee interfaces or possibly even the new USB mic they just introduced at the NAMM show. You can't go wrong with Apogee partly because their stuff is designed to integrate closely with Logic and Mac computers. You will have a vertical learning curve anyway, so you might as well make some of the technical aspects somewhat easier. You'll need a decent pair of speakers as well, don't forget that. And if you are a keyboardist, or even if you're not, you'll need some way to get MIDI data into your DAW so budget for that as well. You don't need a fancy 88 key controller to start with, get something with 49 keys to get started and learn it inside and out.

IMO, if you get something like Logic, you won't need to add to it for quite some time because it basically has everything you will need to create music from the ground up. And as your skills and ears improve, you can make further purchases to enhance what you already have and your decisions will be much more informed because you'll have the experience to back them up.

Also remember that many of us posting here have been doing this for years and have forgotten a lot of the painful steps it took to wrap our heads around the basics of recording, not to mention writing a good song or piece of music to record!! So have patience because you probably won't be creating great sounding stuff for several months at least.

Go for it, but go easy on yourself if it doesn't magically make you a success overnight! The hype is one thing, the reality is another, have patience!

Good luck,

Mazz

More than likely, in the future, you will be spending the bulk of your money on vst instruments and effects, mics, etc. beyond what is bundled with a daw anyway, so keep that in mind. You don't really need a top of the line computer unless you are planning on a large orchestral ensemble with a gazillion effects and instances, and want them open at the same time. There are work arounds like "freezing instruments" etc. or rendering. It's like the difference between having one channel from an API or Neve console and overdubbing, or having to buy a whole console, or usually settling for something less with a lot of channels.

Avid's new MBox line has the same converters as Apogee Duet, and most versions include ProTools native. This would leave some budget for a mic or monitor upgrade, and maybe a few cool plugins. I recommend you invest half your budget in monitors, it's THAT important to be able to hear what you're recording/mixing. If you have and use a MIDI keyboard and virtual instruments are important, consider Logic; it's hard to beat on price and comes with a good and useful set of pro-grade virtual instruments, and will work with the Avid interface or nearly any other, and the MIDI editing is much easier, better and more comprehensive than in ProTools.